Offense comes alive as Phllies halt skid, top Marlins

Philadelphia Phillies' Marlon Byrd, center, and Chase Utley, right, celebrate next to Miami Marlins catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia after Byrd's two-run home run during the first inning of the Phillies' win on Tuesday night. (AP Photo)

PHILADELPHIA — One night after another collectively anemic performance at the corner of Citizens Bank Park and home plate, the Phillies found a way to reverse course Tuesday evening and pound the Miami Marlins 7-4.

Somehow they only needed seven hits to do it, yet that’s a veritable offensive boon for this club at home.

Highlighting an impressive show of run support for struggling starter David Buchanan was Jimmy Rollins, who lashed a pair of singles, was on base four times and scored the first run of the game. Marlon Byrd chipped in with his sixth homer of the season and recent returnee Cody Asche plated a pair of runs with a sixth-inning double.

That’s not all the support Buchanan received, as the Marlins (38-39) found a way to give the Phillies two runs via two wild pitches, and allow Rollins to score the first run of the game on a throwing error by catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia.

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Thus the Phillies (35-41), blanked 4-0 a night earlier for their eighth home shutout of the season, ended a three-game losing streak. They did it the old fashioned way ... by actually scoring.

Rollins led off Phils’ home first by getting in the way of an Andrew Heaney pitch, then stealing second. He would come around when a Saltalamacchia throw toward third went awry. Byrd followed almost immediately with a two-run home run to center and it was 3-0 after one.

It was also just what Buchanan (4-3) would need. He’d escaped a jam in the first, then allowed a run in the second on a Chase Utley error on what should have been an easy infield fly pop with the bases loaded.

But Heaney gave up a triple to Ben Revere, and with two outs with Rollins batting, thew a wild pitch to bring the Phils speedster home for a 4-1 lead.

Buchanan tiptoed through trouble through the next few innings. He gave up only one other run in the fifth on a Casey McGehee sacrifice fly, which had been set up by Giancarlo Stanton’s second double of the game. But his night was finished after that.

The Phillies stretched their lead with a three-run sixth, however, as Howard led off with a double, Byrd got on via another Marlins error, and Asche doubled them home.

He’d then score on a wild pitch by Marlins reliever Bryan Morris, who would match Heaney’s two wild pitches on the night.

The Marlins got a pair of runs back in the eighth inning via a line drive deep into the right field stands that Garrett Jones crushed off reliever B.J. Rosenberg. He would need Jake Diekman to bail him out. But Rosenberg’s latest forgettable outing did offer up a save opportunity for Jonathan Papelbon, who finished it in quick order.

NOTES

Tony Gwynn Jr., activated before the game, came to the plate with two outs in the bottom of the eighth inning and received a standing ovation from Phillies fans appreciative of what his father meant to baseball. Gwynn has just returned from a bereavement leave after Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn Sr. passed away June 16 at the age of 54. The younger Gwynn grounded out. ... While Papelbon earned his 18th save, for a second straight night Closer of the Near Future Ken Giles breezed through a 1-2-3 inning. This time he did so with two strikeouts. He has chalked up 12 strikeouts in six innings of work since being called up.